<p>1:30 to go with no timeouts and obvious passing situation and you go with a QB who's essentially a running back completing 36% of his passes.. instead of going with the proven comeback guy and better passer who has shown time and again that he could play like crap the whole game and then play lights out in the final minutes... just to prove a point? </p>
<p>Denard should have been in long ago when Tate was struggling, but he had no business in the last drive. makes no freaking sense whatsoever.</p>
<p>And let's not bring up the idiotic call last week... the 4th down fake punt within the 20, then throw your punter under the bus by saying that he made the wrong read. Zoltan should not have that option inside the 20 to start with...</p>
<p>In the last 2 games I have witnessed 2 greatest coaching brain fart in michigan football history</p>
<p>I hate to say it bearcats, but I agree. RR should have gone with Tate. All we needed was to drive the ball 50 yards for a field goal attempt. </p>
<p>This said, I have a good feeling about the rest of our games. Our Defense is starting to play well, except for our secondary, which still is giving up the big play. Once our Center returns from injury, we should be in very good shape. I still see us finishing 8-4 this year, which would be a great turnaround.</p>
<p>Tate was not having a good game. There was also speculation that something was wrong with his throwing hand. Robinson played well on the second-to-last drive; he deserved a chance to help the team win. Also, do you remember last year when Beilein benched Manny during overtime against Iowa? Why do you bench your best player? Manny played with no intensity during that game whatsoever, and then he lit a fire under the team the rest of the year. There’s no way Michigan would’ve made it to the NCAA Tournament without Manny being benched for that one overtime. Some kids just need motivation.</p>
<p>it isn’t just RR and the offense though is what people need to realize (although going with Denard instead of Tate was a horrible call), overall the offense is doing great averaging over 30+ pts. a game, the bigger problem is Greg Robinson has done horrible as a defensive coordinator and I don’t know how he’s not on the hot seat yet, other than Western and Eastern Michigan, he’s given up 25-30+ pts a game to every team we’ve played and you can’t win without good defense, the best teams in the nation Florida, Texas, Alabama, USC (the one thing in common is great defense)</p>
<p>Both of Iowa’s touchdowns were scored on 3rd down situations, and anyone who plays madden or knows anything about football knows that you run a cover 2 or cover 3 defense with 2 safeties back to stop the pass, but GR for some reason brought one safety up to stop the run (which we are already doing well with 8 in the box) and Stainzi just threw the ball to the tight end slashing underneath and scored two easy touchdowns</p>
<p>while that one call by rich rod having denard in over tate was a mistake, I think our offense is arguably the best in the Big 10, but the defensive play calling is terrible and someone needs to call out Greg Robinson instead of the excuses of “oh our secondary isn’t good”, “we don’t have the personnel”, “our defense is playing better”, the truth of the matter is the defense has not played well at all and the players are all star recruits they can’t be THAT bad, someone needs to take the blame and I think by the end of the season people will recognize that Greg Robinson is a horrible defensive coordinator</p>
<p>Perhaps you havn’t noticed, we have a walk-on starting at safety; we have an undersized DL, and LB who cant shed a block to save his life (particularly Ezeh), and CBs who cant cover (boubocar who?).</p>
<p>If you dont have talent on defense, a DC could only do so much. By the way, the 3rd and 12 touchdown was caused by mike williams biting on the play action, not by GR bringing one safety up to stop the run. A safety would have to be an idiot to bite on a 3rd and 12 play action.</p>
<p>We conceded 30 points to a GOOD team in a game that we commited 5 turnovers, at least 2 way deep in our territory. A defense could only do so much.</p>
<p>“Robinson played well on the second-to-last drive; he deserved a chance to help the team win.”
Do you conveniently forget to mention the fact that he basically ran more than he passed in the drive, which burned 5 minutes off the clock? Take away the run and Robinson can’t do jack… Oh…but YOU CANT RUN with 1 minute and 30 seconds left. The hick decided to go with the QB who completed 4 passes in his collegiate career while turning the ball over 4 times (int + fumbles), while he sat Tate who brought the team back against ND, Indiana, played like crap the whole game against little brother and almost single handedly brought the team back in the last 5 minutes.</p>
<p>“Also, do you remember last year when Beilein benched Manny during overtime against Iowa? Why do you bench your best player? Manny played with no intensity during that game whatsoever, and then he lit a fire under the team the rest of the year. There’s no way Michigan would’ve made it to the NCAA Tournament without Manny being benched for that one overtime. Some kids just need motivation.”</p>
<p>Sure, and you punish the whole team in the process? A football game is A LOT more important than a basketball game. For one, Michigan Football is way more important than Michigan Basketball. And you play a lot of basketball games in a season, you only have 12 games in a football season. Each loss is much bigger. Oh… not to mention the opportunity to pull out a big win over a 12th ranked team on prime time national television in front of a huge audience. An example of a hick not being able to see the big picture</p>
<p>Our D hasn’t been that bad the last 2 games. The offense is putting them in terrible situations. How many drives did Iowa have of more than 30 yards to score. 2 or 3? Our TO’s put them inside our 30 multiple times. The D has stepped up a lot to hold them to field goals. We don’t have any depth (thanks Lloyd Carr) and some of our starters should be playing for MAC teams, not B10 teams. </p>
<p>Bearcats-we are 4-2 and are not, and weren’t supposed, to be good. We lost to the 12th best team in the country by 2 ONLY because of our 5 TOs, not Denard. He led a great drive and Tate had an INT and was throwing less than 50%. Iowa couldn’t stop him. Stop ********, when we get more players to fit RR’s system and get more experience (over half of our starters are freshman and sophomores) we will be a top 10 team. In 2011 and 2012 we will be in the NC picture. We could realistically go 11-1 or 12-0 in either or both of those years. We don’t play Penn State either of those years. One we get OSU at home, the other Pryor will be gone (he actually could be gone for both).</p>
<p>“Stop ********, when we get more players to fit RR’s system and get more experience (over half of our starters are freshman and sophomores) we will be a top 10 team.”</p>
<p>With a coach that on 4th and inches, called a fake punt deep in their own 20 while lining up your punter 15 yards from the first down marker? Sure… oh… not to mention he threw Zoltan under the bus in that postgame press conference by putting all the blame on his punter. Guess what, classless hick, you are the head coach, you gave the punter the option which he should not have to start with. And more importantly, a Michigan head coach does not throw his players under the bus. He totally lost me there with the brainfart and subsequent lack of class. That crap was dumber than bret bilema’s timeout against little brother last year</p>
<p>"We lost to the 12th best team in the country "
does anyone honestly believe that Iowa is a no.12 team? They barely beat powerhouses like Arkansas State and Iowa State, and beat a Penn State team that beat nobody.</p>
<p>"We lost to the 12th best team in the country by 2 ONLY because of our 5 TOs, not Denard. "
Really? He had plenty of time on the snap where he threw the interception, and had he done what any QB’s supposed to do, aka check down, he would have seen odoms WIDE OPEN at around the 45 yard line near the sidelines and NO ONE, I repeat NO ONE was within a 10 yard radius of Odoms. That would be at least at the 45 yard line with 1 minute to go and probably more with YAC, with only a field goal needed to win.</p>
<p>The hick is trying to spin it as a concussion now… bull crap… tate was trying to get on the field on the last drive and the dumb hick yanked him back.</p>
<p>That was Mesko’s fault. He had the option to run or punt it. He chose the wrong one. Also, Denard was not recruited to play QB at any other college. Most colleges, like Florida, wanted him at CB. You are the fair weather Michigan fan who people hate. Have some faith or go cheer for someone else. Tate had a minor concussion too. He may or may not play against Del. St. Why are you so angry? This team was supposed to be 3-3 at best right now. They have a very real chance to be 8-2. Del St, Penn St., Purdue, and Illinois aren’t very good.</p>
<p>"That was Mesko’s fault. He had the option to run or punt it. He chose the wrong one. "</p>
<p>Really? Who gave him the option deep inside our own red zone to start with? Any coach with a brain could do a risk-benefit analysis and realize that it was a stupid thing to do. As a coach, you take that option away when you are deep in your own territory. Oh wait… I forgot we have a dumb hick from the coal mines with an IQ of negative 50.
If you were gonna go for it, you go for it inches from the first down marker where the line of scrimmage was. Ultimately the head coach is responsible. Throwing your player under the bus is extremely classless. At the press conference, it should not be “Zoltan made the wrong read.”, it should be “I was too stupid to take that option away from our punter even though we were deep in our own territory”</p>
<p>“Tate had a minor concussion too.”
The hick said he was NOT aware that Tate had a concussion until after the game.</p>
<p>“Also, Denard was not recruited to play QB at any other college. Most colleges, like Florida, wanted him at CB.”
Thanks for proving my point. You put a non-throwing QB who has no experience under pressure in an obvious passing situation. The kid averaged 1 pick every 2 completions for crying out loud. Dumb decision. </p>
<p>"You are the fair weather Michigan fan who people hate. "
Actually, no. I am an objective fan who can make judgements based on what I see and what I think as opposed to a blind sheep who simply follow the trend like you.</p>
<p>I hope I don’t encounter too many “fans” like you next year. Robinson isn’t good, but Tate flat out SUCKED. Tate also came out with his hand wrapped up. He would have been able to play, but he wasn’t 100%. I don’t think Tate is big enough to play in the Big Ten for four years and not be out for a significant portions of at least 2 seasons. I think Gardner could take the starting job before Forcier graduates. But 2011 will be the year we can win it all. I can guarantee I know more about UM football than you. I’m far from a blind sheep.</p>
<p>Carr wasn’t taking us anywhere. I really think RR will in 2011 or 2012 and beyond.</p>
<p>I mostly agree with jrt336. Tate is definitely going to have issues staying healthy, there’s no doubt about it. But if he does somehow manage to stay healthy, I think he’ll be a four-year starter. </p>
<p>The whole topic of this thread is troubling, though. Calling Coach Rod a hick? Here’s something you don’t know about Michigan, bearcats: we try not to embarrass ourselves by insulting people who represent our university and who are good at what they do.</p>
<p>“Here’s something you don’t know about Michigan, bearcats: we try not to embarrass ourselves by insulting people who represent our university and who are good at what they do.”</p>
<p>Sure, we avoid doing so by being classless and placing blame on the player instead even though the HEAD COACH is ultimately responsible. He also has yet to convince the people of Michigan that he is good at what he does… For example, I have never seen any worse coaching mishap than the fake punt. (of course again you are going to say its zoltan’s fault. WHO GAVE HIM THAT OPTION?? thank you)</p>
<p>Zoltan always has that option, and has made good reads in the past. I don’t think there’s any problem with Rodriguez trusting Mesko to make the right decision when Mesko’s easily one of the best punters in the country and has always made the right read before. Rodriguez probably could have made it clearer that when you’re deep in your own territory on 4th and 5+ it’s not a good idea to try and go for it. Then again, I’m sure Mesko knew that and got caught up in the emotions of wanting to win the game. It was just something that unfortunately happened. </p>
<p>I agree that placing blame solely on the player is classless. But I don’t see the advantage in bitterly blaming Rodriguez. The guy’s been through enough. I’ve criticized him before, but I think it’s better now to see where this team is at in 2011 before telling him to go back to his “freaking coal mine”. Personally, I think it’s admirable that a person coming from such humble beginnings can become Michigan’s head coach. I like what that says about my school.</p>
<p>"Zoltan always has that option, and has made good reads in the past. "
Maybe, just maybe, the HEAD COACH, who’s ultimately responsible, should have taken away the option. It doesn’t make any sense to have that option at that situation. That play resulted in an easy 3 points for little brother. </p>
<p>“I agree that placing blame solely on the player is classless. But I don’t see the advantage in bitterly blaming Rodriguez.”
Really? If you do you probably should also watch the press conference. He totally threw Zoltan under the bus and did not take even a tiny bit of responsibility. That makes me puke.</p>
<p>Why so angry bearcats? Haven’t gotten laid in a while?</p>
<p>But seriously, who cares. We got totally outplayed by MSU. One play never loses you the game. How about Stonum fumbling on the 10? That was way more costly. What about our first sucky drive where we lost yards and only got 3 points? UM could be 2-4 just as easily as 5-1 or 6-2. They’re 4-2 and should be at least 7-3, if not 8-2, so stop whining. Go cheer for a team with a more “moral” coach. What about MSU? Getting a guy out of jail to come in and play right away and start at RB? That’s a lot more classly. In 2 years the real fans will be laughing ourselves all the way to a BCS bowl. I doubt you’ll be complaining then.</p>